WAMC - 3rd time applying + school list

[bobjoey042]

Date of submission: Applied early in my first two cycles; this cycle I applied in mid June to all 4 TX schools and 3 schools I interviewed at (ASDOH, MWU - IL, and LECOM) and Maryland (got their secondary twice). I took my DAT on July 18th and am still waiting for the scores to process.
Overall GPA: 3.7
Science GPA: 3.5
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.5
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 4 times - most recent (and best score): 22 AA/22TNS/17 PAT; 21 Bio, 22 GC, 23 Orgo, 21 RC, 21 QR
State of Residence: TX

Major: Biology
Minor: Public Health
Minority? No
Reapplicant? Yes (currently in 3rd cycle)
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 1st app: 2 offices, 90 hours; 2nd app: 7 more offices (9 in total), 200 hours cumulatively
Employment: Worked as a DA for the past 1.5+ years, also a dental lab tech for 6 months; over 1500 hours cumulatively
Research: 250 hours over one summer as an assistant, no publications
Other Extracurriculars: I am in the AT Still MPH-D program currently. For my extracurriculars, I was very active in a pre-health club, went to many volunteering events and held numerous officer roles for 2-3 years. I was also in 2 pre-dental clubs and stayed active in those (no leadership position). I also held officer roles for my church youth group. I volunteered for about 120 hours non-clinically and went to 3 Mission of Mercy events, and volunteered at 1 other dental service event. For manual dexterity, I've been playing piano and basketball for over a decade. I also gained some manual dexterity skills in my research lab. I highlighted both those things on my app as well.
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? Went to UTSD tour through a pre-dental club
Relevant Honors or Awards: Graduated with magna cum laude honors
LOR type and strength: 1 dentist that I work with, 2 science faculty, and 1 research PI. All letters are strong
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Lack of dental experience between first gap year and second gap year. Was able to shadow a lot more (7 offices) in my first gap year before working as a DA.

School List for 3rd cycle: I already applied to the 8 schools listed above (4 TX, ASDOH, MWU - IL, LECOM, and Maryland). I was thinking about adding MOSDOH, Temple, Roseman, Creighton, UNE, Louisville, and Touro for 15 total. I was wondering if that was a good number considering its my 3rd time applying, and that I've taken DAT 4 times

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[macsak]

Date of submission: Applied early in my first two cycles; this cycle I applied in mid June to all 4 TX schools and 3 schools I interviewed at (ASDOH, MWU - IL, and LECOM) and Maryland (got their secondary twice). I took my DAT on July 18th and am still waiting for the scores to process.
Overall GPA: 3.7
Science GPA: 3.5
Bio-Chem-Physics GPA: 3.5
DAT score (include AA and all sections): 4 times - most recent (and best score): 22 AA/22TNS/17 PAT; 21 Bio, 22 GC, 23 Orgo, 21 RC, 21 QR
State of Residence: TX

Major: Biology
Minor: Public Health
Minority? No
Reapplicant? Yes (currently in 3rd cycle)
Nontrad? No

Shadowing Experience: 1st app: 2 offices, 90 hours; 2nd app: 7 more offices (9 in total), 200 hours cumulatively
Employment: Worked as a DA for the past 1.5+ years, also a dental lab tech for 6 months; over 1500 hours cumulatively
Research: 250 hours over one summer as an assistant, no publications
Other Extracurriculars: I am in the AT Still MPH-D program currently. For my extracurriculars, I was very active in a pre-health club, went to many volunteering events and held numerous officer roles for 2-3 years. I was also in 2 pre-dental clubs and stayed active in those (no leadership position). I also held officer roles for my church youth group. I volunteered for about 120 hours non-clinically and went to 3 Mission of Mercy events, and volunteered at 1 other dental service event. For manual dexterity, I've been playing piano and basketball for over a decade. I also gained some manual dexterity skills in my research lab. I highlighted both those things on my app as well.
Have you volunteered/shadowed/attended events at any dental schools? Went to UTSD tour through a pre-dental club
Relevant Honors or Awards: Graduated with magna cum laude honors
LOR type and strength: 1 dentist that I work with, 2 science faculty, and 1 research PI. All letters are strong
Misc Info/Things not stated elsewhere/Red Flags: Lack of dental experience between first gap year and second gap year. Was able to shadow a lot more (7 offices) in my first gap year before working as a DA.

School List for 3rd cycle: I already applied to the 8 schools listed above (4 TX, ASDOH, MWU - IL, LECOM, and Maryland). I was thinking about adding MOSDOH, Temple, Roseman, Creighton, UNE, Louisville, and Touro for 15 total. I was wondering if that was a good number considering its my 3rd time applying, and that I've taken DAT 4 times

i'd definitely recommend adding the first 4 you listed
and, yeah, you want to apply to as many schools as you can afford

congrats on the DAT improvement!
what were your previous scores?

 

[bobjoey042]

i'd definitely recommend adding the first 4 you listed
and, yeah, you want to apply to as many schools as you can afford

congrats on the DAT improvement!
what were your previous scores?

Attempt 1 (2021): 18 AA, 17 Bio, 17 GC, 18 Orgo (17 TNS), 17 PAT, 20 RC, 19 QR
Attempt 2 (2022): 20 AA, 19 Bio, 18 GC, 19 Orgo (19 TNS), 17 PAT, 24 RC, 20 QR (applied my first cycle with these 2 scores)
Attempt 3 (2023): 20 AA, 19 Bio, 20 GC, 21 Orgo (20 TNS), 19 PAT, 20 RC, 20 QR (applied my second cycle with this score)
Attempt 4 (2024): 22 AA, 21 Bio, 22 GC, 23 Orgo (22 TNS), 17 PAT, 21 RC, 21 QR (applied during this current third cycle; not sure if the 2021 attempt expires after 3 years or if it still shows up?)

 

[macsak]

Attempt 1 (2021): 18 AA, 17 Bio, 17 GC, 18 Orgo (17 TNS), 17 PAT, 20 RC, 19 QR
Attempt 2 (2022): 20 AA, 19 Bio, 18 GC, 19 Orgo (19 TNS), 17 PAT, 24 RC, 20 QR (applied my first cycle with these 2 scores)
Attempt 3 (2023): 20 AA, 19 Bio, 20 GC, 21 Orgo (20 TNS), 19 PAT, 20 RC, 20 QR (applied my second cycle with this score)
Attempt 4 (2024): 22 AA, 21 Bio, 22 GC, 23 Orgo (22 TNS), 17 PAT, 21 RC, 21 QR (applied during this current third cycle; not sure if the 2021 attempt expires after 3 years or if it still shows up?)

wow
congrat on the improvement
how many interviews did you get and where on your first and second cycles?

 

[bobjoey042]

wow
congrat on the improvement
how many interviews did you get and where on your first and second cycles?

1st cycle - ASDOH and MWU-IL pre-December, both virtual interviews; was on both waitlists until their classes started. Also got the Maryland secondary pre-December. I sent them both update letters in January.

2nd cycle - ASDOH pre-December, got the Maryland secondary in December, then LECOM and MWU-IL in January. ASDOH and LECOM started their classes already. I sent MWU-IL a LOI in March, but was rejected in May.

No TX interviews either cycle

 

[macsak]

1st cycle - ASDOH and MWU-IL pre-December, both virtual interviews; was on both waitlists until their classes started. Also got the Maryland secondary pre-December. I sent them both update letters in January.

2nd cycle - ASDOH pre-December, got the Maryland secondary in December, then LECOM and MWU-IL in January. ASDOH and LECOM started their classes already. I sent MWU-IL a LOI in March, but was rejected in May.

No TX interviews either cycle

ok thanks

5 interviews and no acceptances tells me that interview may be an issue
but since they gave you interviews again, it couldn't have been that bad
i think you should apply to more schools, and hopefully you will have a more successful cycle

 

[bobjoey042]

I agree that I don't think my interviews were bad, and I don't think I showed them any glaring red flags. But I probably didn't showcase enough to stand out enough. I will work on interviewing skills more this cycle.

What are your thoughts on UNE, Louisville, and Touro? I want to apply to as many schools as possible but is 15 pushing it/desperate?

 

[macsak]

I agree that I don't think my interviews were bad, and I don't think I showed them any glaring red flags. But I probably didn't showcase enough to stand out enough. I will work on interviewing skills more this cycle.

What are your thoughts on UNE, Louisville, and Touro? I want to apply to as many schools as possible but is 15 pushing it/desperate?

no one will know how many schools you apply to, so pushing it/desperate does not apply
you need to apply to enough schools to feel like you will get an acceptance this cycle
i agreed with your other schools because they made sense geographically
the further away the schools are, you are going to need to show a ton of mission fit to get interviews and acceptances...

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You might not have gotten off waitlists because of your DAT the first time. I don't know about the "second time," but it feels to me like you didn't convince faculty that you are ready for dental school. It could be your interview, but it could be mission fit and alignment.

It's a little surprising that Texas schools haven't invited you to interview. I'm guessing it's your old DATs, but I hope you have enough dental experience hours now. No admissions teams have given you any feedback on your past attempts?

ASDOH should have been a shoo-in. You know they lean heavily into public health. Your minor should be attractive, but it's not clear what you did with that minor from your profile. You're in the online MPH-D program (Master of Public Health - Dental Emphasis degree online), so perhaps some academic capstone or report will be enough. IMO, an Americorps growth experience would be a bit more effective than taking classes. Regardless, something you aren't sharing with us or that you are still blind to seems to be holding you back.

 

[bobjoey042]

No admissions teams have given you any feedback on your past attempts?

2 of the TX schools were pretty vague - they just said my DAT/GPA are "acceptable and not something that's holding me back." Only SA said that my DAT and GPA were slightly under those who matriculated, so they said to improve one or the other heading into this cycle. So ideally I would have answered that with the improved DAT and MPH-D. Hopefully it'll lead to more TX interviews with that and all the added dental shadowing/volunteering/assisting experience.

Regardless, something you aren't sharing with us or that you are still blind to seems to be holding you back.

I'm not too sure. In terms of TX, I think my stats in the past weren't high enough given how competitive TX schools are, and my dental experiences didn't make up for it. I'm also not too sure how OOS schools are viewing me given my stats/experiences, maybe thinking that I would have been getting news from TX to begin with? I guess it puts me in a weird middle ground, being "too average" and not standing out enough on either side.

I've had my university's pre-health committee review my app before my first cycle, and other dental school mentors in subsequent cycles and there aren't any concerns from their ends. I think it really comes down to not showing enough from the interviews I have gotten. Even then, I didn't do anything glaring enough to get rejected immediately, but it's still something I know I need to work on for this cycle.